New tank, first water test, really confused

[stragen001]

Hello All,
I am just getting started with keeping fish and have been furiously researching over the past couple of weeks whilst waiting for all my kit to arrive. This forum has been very helpful so thank you all!


I got my 22G tank set up and running yesterday, just took my first water test today and got some strange results. There are no fish in the tank yet, have just had the filter running for the past 24hrs or so, and I have put no additives in the water except Tetra Aquasafe to de-chlorinate. I previously had water in the tank but no filter running for about 5 days (original filter DOA, replacement took a few days) but did a 80%ish water change yesterday before adding the filter


The readings I got using an API master test kit were:
pH=8.0 / Ammonia=0.25ppm / Nitrite=5ppm / Nitrate=between 40-80ppm


Those Nitrite and Nitrate readings seemed REALLY high considering the tank hasnt even cycled yet, so I took some readings from my tapwater and got:
pH=7.6 / Ammonia=0.25ppm / Nitrite=0ppm / Nitrate between 40-80ppm


Seems like I have high Nitrates in my tapwater? I checked my water company report which says I have average 23.7mg NO3 per litre. Not sure what that works out to in PPM?




To my questions:
- Will Nitrate levels this high harm any fish I put in the tank?
- What can I do about the high Nitrates in my tapwater?
- Why are the Nitrites so high compared to my tapwater?
- Is it possible that the tank is already in the process of cycling itself due to the Ammonia in the tapwater?

Please see attachments
Tank vs Tap pH test - tank on left, tap on right
Tank vs Tap Nitrite and Nitrate test - tank on left, tap on right
Water company report

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Andy

 

[dalto]

Seems like I have high Nitrates in my tapwater? I checked my water company report which says I have average 23.7mg NO3 per litre. Not sure what that works out to in PPM?

mg/l and ppm are the same so it works out to 23.7ppm which is pretty high for drinking water.

- Will Nitrate levels this high harm any fish I put in the tank?
- Why are the Nitrites so high compared to my tapwater?

I would want to figure out why you have nitrites and higher nitrates in your tank than what is in your tapwater. What else do you have in the tank. Those levels are fairly harmful to fish.

- What can I do about the high Nitrates in my tapwater?

Nitrates are pretty hard to remove. You could setup an RO/DI system to filter the water.

- Is it possible that the tank is already in the process of cycling itself due to the Ammonia in the tapwater?

Even if it was there is no way that 0.25ppm of ammonia would turn into 5ppm of nitrite.

These are definitely strange results

 

[stragen001]

Thanks for the reply Dalto

The water company report says max 35.6 avg 27.3 min 20.4 nitrates. Looking at the test results I reckon I am at the high end of that

In the tank I have assorted fake plants, a couple of pieces of rock, and a big piece of bogwood (plus gravel substrate purchased from LFS, thermometer, heater, filter)

 

[TomK2]

I have heard of well water having nitrates in it from farm run-off. Guess your supply also has nitrates. No easy and cheap fix for that. Sorry. Bottled water, reverse osmosis?

Perhaps your ammonia test is high due to choramines added to the water. In The salicylate method of testing for ammonia, which has a green color change, the first bottle adds chlorine to the sample to create monochloramine. Monochloramine turns bottle 2 reagent green in your test tube (yelllow from excess reagent and blue from monochloramines creates green test tube) If you have monochloramine already, it will read as ammonia.

For the nitrite test, high nitrates (greater than 100 ppm according to my reasearch) will cause some of the nitrate to turn into nitrite in the test tube, causing an elevated result. My research also notes that ferric ions, ferrous ions, lead ions, amercury ions and copper ions can interfere as well.

edit: oh, and if you use a saltwater nitrate kit for testing your Freshwater your results will be high.

 

[Angela1108]

You might end up having to buy bottled water.

Someone mentioned run off from farms- if it did recently rain you might want to try again in a couple days- it might be bad. That said it means it will be a crap shoot for water changes


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[stragen001]

Thanks for the replies folks. I dont have well water to my knowledge. I am on the town water supply.

It looking like I am going to have to go down the RO route. Would mixing 50/50(or whatever brings nitrates to a good level) with my tap water be OK? Would I need add extra minerals?

 

[dalto]

Mixing would be OK. As for having to remineralize or not it would depend on what GH and KH were are the dilution.

It also depends on what kind of fish you want to keep.

 

[stragen001]

Mixing with RO will also bring the hardness down won't it?

 

[dalto]

Mixing with RO will also bring the hardness down won't it?

Yes, it will make the water softer and lower KH.

So if your tap water is hard and high in KH than cutting it with RO should be fine as long as the percentage of RO isn't huge. However, if you water is low in KH to being with than cutting it with RO may be a problem.

Honestly, I have hard, high KH water and still use pure RO that is re-mineralized because it is just easier to deal with. But I have access to the RO water so your situation may be different.

 

[trennamw]

Towns that currently have, or formerly had, septic tanks instead of sewer tend to have high nitrates in the town water supplies. The septic tanks that avoid this have only been out for a few years and are rarely used.

You've gotten good suggestions for the fish ... I'd recommend you make sure you've got a Brita filter or something for yourself too!


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[TomK2]

Thanks for the replies folks. I dont have well water to my knowledge. I am on the town water supply.



?

Does your town pump it up from the ground?

I get Lake Michigan water pumped to my house. Heavily chlorinated, but no chloramines or nitrates. Unless you live next to a large body of fresh water or river, where does it come from?


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